[yadoomerta]

Why would UBI be like a loan, when there is no expectation that it will be paid back? I support it instead of food stamps because it's simpler to understand and more general, but otherwise does the same thing without onerous reporting and beurocracy

[DoreenMichele]

Student loans didn't magically improve quality of life for degree seekers. Instead, it lined the pockets of universities while creating new problems for underprivileged students who took loans.

UBI won't magically create inexpensive housing where you can reasonably live without a car. Most likely, it just causes landlords to jack up rent and get richer while doing liitle or nothing for the poorest of the poor.

[AussieWog93]

> Student loans didn't magically improve quality of life for degree seekers. Instead, it lined the pockets of universities while creating new problems for underprivileged students who took loans.

Citation needed here, massively! At least in Australia, university was something only rich kids did back before free education and HECS.

[DoreenMichele]

I've done everything I can to signal that I am speaking of how things have gone in the US.

[yadoomerta]

I really think the anti-student-loan argument is a red herring. Medical costs have gone up almost the same amount in the same time period without student loans.

[yadoomerta]

The poorest will be much richer because you've given them money, almost by definition.

Student loans are problematic because they put the student in lifelong debt, before that state schools were just, state subsidized and students were given scholarships, both of which are much closer to UBI. And even so, they're still better than nothing imo, though free-school-for-all Germany style would be better still.

I share your worry about landlords jacking up prices. In a "free market" you'd expect them to compete on price but obviously that isn't the case since they have all the power and are able to set their prices as high as the renters are able to pay. That's a problem and would affect people on UBI, but could be solved by additional regulation as well, which essentially every UBI supporter is in favor of.

[DoreenMichele]

The poorest will be much richer because you've given them money, almost by definition.

I spent years homeless. I've had a college class in Homelessness and Public Policy. I've written about homelessness for years.

The poorest of the poor sometimes have no ID, thus no means to access a lot of welfare benefits.

[yadoomerta]

That's a lot of the advantage of UBI in my opinion - is that it's much easier to access than the complicated welfare systems we have now, which require meeting up and consulting with lots of volunteer specialists to be sure you're doing it the right way.

I agree that getting benefits to people without an ID is a problem, but it seems very tangential to the UBI vs Status Quo debate.

What policy would you prefer?

[kodyo]

How do people identify themselves in order to prevent fraud in this fantasy?

[yadoomerta]

How do they currently?